$5.5bn borrowing: FG meets global investors in US Friday

The Federal Government is set to meet global debt investors this week as it looks to sell its longest-maturity Eurobond yet.

Specifically, the government has planned a roadshow to London and United States from Thursday to market up to $2.5bn of Eurobonds to investors after the National Assembly approved the issue on Tuesday, according to a Bloomberg report.

The Debt Management Office has said that the government is aiming to issue the bonds by mid-November, and that it also wants to refinance $3bn of domestic treasury bills with dollar loans.

The Federal Government has mandated Citigroup and Standard Chartered Plc to arrange a 10- and 30-year transaction.

Federal Government officials were expected to have held conference calls on Wednesday, before meeting investors in London on Thursday and in New York on Friday, Bloomberg quoted sources close to the move to have said.

Meanwhile, Eurobonds made up more than a fifth of Nigeria’s $15.35bn foreign debt portfolio as of September and more than half of interest paid in the third quarter, the DMO said on Wednesday.

Foreign debt stood at $11.58bn a year earlier, Reuters reported.

Total domestic debt stood at N15.68tn ($49.9bn) by September, compared with N13.35tn last year, the DMO said.

The government is planning to switch its borrowing mix so that foreign loans account for up to 40 per cent of its total debt portfolio by 2019, from about 23 per cent, to lower its funding costs and lengthen the repayment period.

Multilateral loans, including financing from the World Bank, accounted for 64.5 per cent of foreign loans while bilateral loans with China and other countries make up 14 per cent.

The DMO said Eurobonds and Diaspora bonds accounted for 21.5 per cent of total offshore borrowing and 53 per cent of debt service payments in the third quarter.

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